PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — People waited for hours to enter the South Florida Fair over the weekend after traffic backed up for miles.
Fair officials blamed the traffic on not having enough parking spots to meet demand, which it said was also increased due to the lack of rain during the weekend. Officials believe demand will stay high on Tuesday due to a promotion offering admission, rides and various food items for $2 on Tuesday.
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Victoria Chouris, who is the president and CEO for the South Florida Fair and Palm Beach County Expositions Inc., said the fair's second weekend is often the strongest for attendance. She said it is challenging because people don't leave the fair once they arrive at the beginning of the day.
"People come to the fair and there is so much to see and do that they don't leave," Chouris said. "So, we only have limited parking. So, we can only accommodate so many people on the site and, so, we just run out of parking."
She said the fair works with other nearby property owners to gain additional parking spaces. Officials with the fair also told WPTV about a few hundred parking spots being lost after nearby land was developed into a warehouse.
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Brian Shenkman, who owns BulkCandyStore and sells candy at the fair, said he's never seen a bigger crowd than at the fair on Saturday over the last 32 years. He said his daughter got stuck in traffic for almost three hours and barely moved 50 feet.
"She didn't move, I'm going to say probably 50 feet, because people are cutting in," Shenkman said. "People are just getting rude. They just don't care. They need to do something where they block off one side and they can't let people cut into the line."
Josue Herrera, who works near the fair, said the traffic stopped him from coming to the fair over the weekend. He described the traffic as horrible and made his lunch break last longer than 30 minutes.
"Honestly, it's crazy," Herrera said. "Crazy traffic."
Chouris said people should come early on Tuesday or come another day to avoid crowds. She said they talk about traffic with the fair's board of directors every year.
According to the nonprofit's 990 form for the fiscal year ending in 2023, the annual fair has revenue of more than $16 million. This doesn't include other revenue streams from the Expo Center and "Fright Nights."
